Columns

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

If Christ was born into the world to redeem it, why doesn't our world look more redeemed? Why is our world still full of loneliness, anxiety, betrayals, sickness, poverty, violence, war and death? What did Christ's birth into our world really change?

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

The full story of how Jesus Christ came to be born includes elements that we do not easily imagine when we sing our Christmas hymns. Jesus' family tree and blood-line were far from perfect and this, according to the great biblical scholar, Raymond Brown, needs to be kept in mind whenever we are tempted to believe in Jesus but want to reject the Church because of its imperfections, scandals and bad history.

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

"A symptom suffers most when it doesn't know were it belongs."

James Hillman wrote that and I learned what it means when I was 17 years old. At that tender age, I entered a religious order, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Like everyone that age, I was pretty restless, overfull with desire, and that was soon compounded by the isolation I experienced during the early years of seminary formation.

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

Henri Nouwen was once asked: "Are you an optimist?" His reply: "No, not naturally, but that isn't important. I live in hope, not optimism." Teilhard de Chardin once said the same thing in different words when he was accused of being overly-idealistic and unrealistic in the face of all the negative things one sees in the world. A critic had challenged him: "Suppose we blow up the world with a nuclear bomb, what then happens to your vision of a world coming together in peace?"

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

When Kim Campbell was prime minister of Canada she gave a candid interview to Maclean's magazine within which she spoke of the ups and downs of being a public figure. You are surrounded by people, she said, but sometimes you live in "an unspeakable loneliness."

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

Theologians make an important distinction between what they call devotional and liturgical prayer. Devotional prayer, they tell us, is private in nature and is meant to help sustain us personally on the spiritual journey. Liturgical prayer, by contrast, is public by nature, the Church's prayer (not our own), is universal in scope, and is intended for the needs of the world.